Blog

The Roggensack Rule

A CPWisconsin club member, Michael Synowicz, has penned a fantastic opinion piece over at People’s World about Wisconsin’s “Citizens United”-equivalent ruling that is close to being adopted. Popularly known as the “Roggensack Rule”, named after Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience Roggensack, it would allow corporations to make campaign contributions to judges – even when they have pending litigation before the Wisconsin courts!

Now why in the world would I, CEO and chairman of ABC Corp., give a sitting judge up for re-election a whopping contribution? Is it because I am interested in justice? Perhaps it is my devotion and support of the democratic process. Forget the free speech dodge, that’s just a red herring trying to divert us from the real motive behind this act; only the most gullible would entertain any other reason than the fact that I want to use my financial clout to influence the outcome of my case. I am, in effect, bribing the judge, and if Roggensack has her way, I am doing so legally.

Read more about this local campaign finance and justice issue over at People’s World.